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I hummed. “If you did that much research on me, it should’ve come up that I’m prelaw. I’m not entering into any land agreement without a written contract signed by your father and his company stating upon purchase of the farm, ownership will transfer to me. Once that contract is in my hand, I’m willing to hear exactly what you want from me and why. If that’s not possible, you weren’t really serious in the first place.
“As for your brother, stop racking up breaking and entering charges and go to Legend. He’s your freaking blood. He should not have to wait as long as you’ve made him.”
Picking up the laptop, I marched off.
“Bitch.”
“Not off to a good start,” I tossed over my shoulder.
Jeremy’s unwelcome distraction aside, it was still an unproductive morning. Sam Dillion was dead. Heather Mitchell was dead. There was the final friend of Scott and Douglas, Nathan Wade. I didn’t expend too much energy looking him up again.
I found out the first time around he got married after his expulsion, and his wife was currently expecting a baby. His Facebook photos put the two of them in Hawaii for a babymoon on Ruckus Day. According to the pics, they were still there.
These letters are hand delivered. It’s not Nathan Wade. What now?
Questions went round in my head all through my classes. Bankruptcy and land transfer were small classes with less than twenty students. Unfortunately, it was easy for my professors to tell my mind was elsewhere. They called on me more than usual. It was a relief to get out of my last class and walk across Homer Green.
There was no air in those damn rooms. How could I do what I had to do next if I couldn’t breathe?
I lay flat on the grass, watching the shapeless white blobs dancing in a blue, red, and orange sky. Once, when I was little, I told Ivy I wished I was a cloud. She said that was silly. Why would I want to be something that wasn’t alive? I told her they were alive. I could see them move. See them change. See them bloat with rain and stamp out the sun. Maybe the clouds looked down on us dots, flapping about all day doing nothing, and wondered if we were real.
She said I was a cute little weirdo and kissed me on the forehead. Two weeks later, on my birthday, I woke up and discovered she made clouds out of fairy lights on my ceiling.
That’s Ivy. She teased me like all big sisters did, but when I needed her, she always knew what to do.
I dialed her on the off chance. Who knew? Maybe today was a day for forgiveness.
The dial tone rang and rang till the voice mail picked up. I didn’t leave one. I had other calls to make.
No more stalling.
Ring. Ring.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Paris. Is now a good time?”
“For sure. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if we could meet up tonight? Dinner at Sassafras on me.”
“Oooh. Is this the big date to tell me you’re into me? You’re hot, Rainey D, but it takes a gear shift to rev this engine, if you know what I’m saying.”
I snorted, braying an unattractive noise. “Not at all. You don’t know much about cars, do you? That’s not how that works. Don’t guess what tonight is about. I promise you, you’ll get it wrong.”
“Mysterious, but I think I can guess. It’s something to do with my brother, isn’t it?”
“It’s complicated. I’ll tell you everything tonight. Are we good for eight o’clock?”
“Yeah, eight’s fine. Do you want me to—”
The phone slipped out of my grip.
“Cancel that. Rainey’s got plans tonight.”
I flipped over, gaping up at Arsenio.
“Trust me,” he said. “It can wait.”
Arsenio hung up the phone and slipped it in his pocket.
Looking at him from that angle, I traveled up and up and up—skimming over his dips, curves, and bulges. Climbing his full lips. Sliding past his deep, unreadable eyes, and then getting lost in the halo of curls shining in the setting sun.
“—with me.”
I started, coming back to reality. “What? Arsenio, give me my phone. You don’t understand. I need to speak to Paris, it’s important.”
“Nothing is more important than what we have to do now. Don’t argue. Get up and follow me.”
He strode off, expecting me to follow. With my damn phone in his pocket, what else was I supposed to do?
I had to call Bella, Frankie, and Paris to tell them to meet me at the diner. Telling them all at once made more sense than wasting even more precious time running all over town.
“Arsenio.” I raced to catch up to him. “This is serious. Give me my phone and then give me a ride while you’re at it. I need to be at the diner at eight.”
He stopped dead, pulling me up short. “Let me make something clear to you. The amusing back-and-forth you have with Cairo, you do not have with me. I told you two things. Do not argue and follow me.”
